Content area
Full Text
The Emperor of Nature: Charles-Lucien Bonaparte and His World. By Patricia Tyson Stroud. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. xviii, 371 pp. $34.95, ISBN 0-8122-3546-0.)
Although the fundamental outlines of the development of nineteenth-century natural history and ornithology are well known, the role of one of its major thinkers has been inadequately examined. Charles-Lucien Bonaparte's contributions are numerous, and this meticulously researched study of his life and accomplishments documents the role he played in the development of systematic thinking in the natural sciences. By examining his voluminous correspondence and publications, Patricia Tyson Stroud demonstrates not only the breadth of his contributions in ornithology but also his role in advancing science in both America and Europe. As the nephew of Napoleon, his life and fiscal fortunes would be inextricably bound and complicated by his family relationship to...